#297 Bird House 4/13/2020

I was on Pinterest, collecting bird photos to paint.  This one caught my eye - first because it's a blue bird with nice colors, second because of the bird house, third because of the patina on the bird house.  What I didn't like was the way the bird was clinging to a smooth vertical surface, it looks unreal.  Three out of four, good enough, so I painted it.  I put the bird down first, then cleaned my brush of left-over paint on the bird house, figuring it was going to be a muddy color anyway.  I had just watched a video from the Draw-Paint-Relax guy on you-tube on how to mix your own colors.  A limited palette, start with a little of this, then more of that, then some counter-acting color, then a touch more yellow, oh no, add some blue, 10 minutes into it and you've got your first perfect color.  So I was resisting the urge to get a perfect color, because I value my laziness - no, no, once more - it's my economy!  The bird house was already recognizable due to the hole and the bird getting ready to go into the hole.  This bird house could be any color!  The patina in the photo was lovely, but alas I added colors willy-nilly, thinking I would blend them all into a wood tone once they were all on the canvas, and then add a seafoam green with a palette knife.  But once the house was painted, it looked like it was reflecting maybe a garden and I left it like that.  It has a weird water-color feel about it.  I did actually use some advice from Mr. Draw-Paint-Relax, I mixed my own black for the hole and the bird's eye...blue and brown make a nice calm black.